Focus

I have trouble focusing on long term goals.

Please advise.

Aren't all long term goals combinations of short term ones added up?

I think it would depend on what your long term goals were, but I like what Connor said.

Perhaps if you plan out a series or what you think it would take to reach your long term goal, then just focus on each step of the way it would help you to stay on track. When I have something to accomplish I might see as long term, that’s what I do.

I don’t say “I want to retire” as my goal… but rather all the little things that have to happen for me to retire the way I want. Then it is broken down into a time schedule. Of course a lot of people also call me nuts on a regular basis, so take anything I say with a grain of salt!

rugadd wrote: I have trouble focusing on long term goals.

Please advise.

What are some of your goals?

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but...

There came a time when I realised that focusing on long-term goals was becoming detrimental to my happiness.

I now really have very few. I try to live in accordance with the Tao...

If you haven't read the Tao Te Ching, I recommend it. If you have, you'll know what I mean.

It is not so much that focusing on long-term goals is bad, in itself. It is just a question of whether focusing on the future takes our focus away from the present, which is the only one out of the two that is actually real at any given moment.

Do we want our actions to be governed by a hypothetical future that may not come to pass, or to be determined by what would make us happy and fulfilled now?

There is not necessarily a right or wrong answer...to question my goals and motivations in this way is just something that has helped me to realise that not focusing on long-term goals is not necessarily a bad thing...

I don't have any mental or spiritual advice to offer....in fact, my advice might be too obvious.

Have you ever considered getting a paper notebook planner? They're the ones with the entire year inside, and they have large boxes with lines inside for each day. I'd highly suggest that you try using a planner, if you haven't already, as they help you make goals and deadlines that you can manage, follow, and remember.

Also, long term goals can be extremely difficult if you look at them that way. I'm not talking about attitude. I'm actually talking about physically doing things to make things easier. For example, have an essay you need to write in 4 weeks? Write 2 paragraphs a week. Or even better: Write 2 sentences per day! Now does that sound like difficult work? Nah. In fact, it's beginning to look elementary (dear Watson :laugh: ).

If your mobile (smart phone or tablet), one word; EVERNOTE...

SeanChing wrote: . Or even better: Write 2 sentences per day! Now does that sound like difficult work? Nah. In fact, it's beginning to look elementary (dear Watson :laugh: ).

If I can get just one thing, just one thing done every day that takes me in the right direction, short, med, or long term goals, then it's been a good day. Get it done first thing in the day and float through the rest of the day. No worries.

For some of us, life flows better when we have little or no long-term goals. For others, life flows better when they do set them. If you regularly have trouble with setting long-term goals and focusing on them, then perhaps you are not the type of person who works best with them, but instead, somebody who works best when things are more spontaneous.

Many people, I notice, also tend to have a lot of trouble with a goal simply because the goal is one set by someone or something else, and not by them independently. A lot of people are successful at a long-term goal when they feel a deep enough passion about the idea of the goal that their minds and hearts are always on it, among almost everything they do.

But some of us don't really feel an urgent need to create a certain outcome in the future.

I think it just depends on who you are and how you work. I also think its good to figure out / decide more which type of person you are, before struggling with one or the other.

I like to use a long term goal to shape the short term goals. Previously I'd done it the other way and it felt a bit too loosely controlled for how short life seems at times.